Daily Dose: Feb. 25, 27

I was off Thursday & there wasn't anything worth talking about on Wednesday. Deal with it.

But what we're all dealing with here in Chicago is the passing of two Bulls legends in Norm Van Lier and Johnny "Red" Kerr.

Normally sports talk radio sucks when athletes die (or retire; see Favre, Brett) but in this case, I feel the Chicago radio scene really knocked it out of the park in the coverage of this unfortunate news.

First, on Stormin' Norman.

This man got me through the 98/99 to 03/04 Bulls years by putting his foot in the @$% of every Bulls coach and terrible player during that stretch following the dynasty. They were nearly unwatchable, but Storm was must-listen to radio in the pre and post-game analysis. He was our voice. My voice.
I didn't get to know Van Lier the player - I knew him only as the guy on the TV or radio, but his love for the team, and the game of basketball, was greatly appreciated. I'll miss him.

As for Big -
if the Storm was coming before and after the games, Red helped me through it. To me, he was the voice of the Bulls. No, he wasn't the play-by-play man, but he's the one who brought the team into my home, and he was the one who would imagine narrating our backyard pickup games.
He's been missed since taking his leave from the sidelines, and he'll be missed now forever.